I can't believe my little sister is the container of the ninetails!
by Fotsvamp
Summary: A traumatic experience in the past has caused a rift between Naruto and his sister, but a series of recent discoveries might help him to bridge it. AU
1. Prologue

There had been a series of days warmer than normal recently in Konoha and to pile misfortune upon misfortune the centralized cooling at the Uzumaki residence had been acting a bit out of order, resulting in a very high temperature in Naruto's room. Wanting too cool down a bit he had left his room in search of a cold beverage and even for someone with a mind slightly duller than the average (such as his was), it was easy to deduce that a cold drink was most likely found in the fridge.

When Naruto opened the fridge door he felt a rush of cool air sweep over his body and he sighed in pleasure, milling about restlessly with his eyes over the content of the fridge he eventually settled on a can of iced tea. "Bleh it so hot in my room, I'll stay downstairs for a bit" he muttered to himself as he took a seat in the living room, propping his feet on the coffee table.

As he sat there, slowly sipping away at that cold tea which brought him much pleasure this warm day just enjoying life, smelling the rose so to say living in t… "Hey, put your feet down, ugh you're so disgusting" he suddenly heard from behind him. Naruto turned to look at the one that spoke, it was his sister Hikari, she was about 5'4" with red hair (just like their mother's) reaching to her waist, and she had whisker marks on her cheeks. Her blue eyes held a glare as she looked at Naruto with contempt "Yeah yeah" Naruto replied as he hastily shuffled his feet down to the floor.

An awkward silence filled the room after their short exchange of words and feeling an urge to fill it with noise Naruto said "Hey.. Umm.. Crazy weather we have been having right?" his sister just looked at him and clicked her tongue as she left the room. " _Haah, I wonder why she acts this way, I remember when we were little and she used to adore me so much, she even said she would be my bride when we grew up…_ " Naruto thought as he finished the last of his drink.

* * *

Thinking about the current stalemate in the relations with his sister always brought him down a bit, so he decided to take a walk to clear his mind. After a few minutes of aimless wandering he caught a glimpse of pink hair on top of a girl coming out of a grocery store in the distance "Sakura-chan!" He yelled and rushed towards it, but he reached the end of the street before catching up with her quickly looking both ways at the intersection he bellowed at the top of his lungs "SAKURA-CHAN!?" and caught sight of her, now stopped in her tracks waiting for him.

As he got close he could see that she was shivering and he ran up to her and put his hand on her shoulder "Hey Sakura, are you cold or something? Why are you shivering? The weather is so fine, it's kinda weird that you are cold…".

Then there was pain, it took a few moments for Naruto to reorient himself as he was suddenly lying on the floor, nose bleeding with a furious Sakura towering over him with her fists clenched and teeth grinding. "NARUTOOO! What have I told you about making a scene in public!" She yelled.

Naruto glanced around them and saw that they had drawn a few observers and, putting a hand to his nose to stop the bleeding caused by Sakura's blow said "Hehe Sorry! You know me, once I'm excited I can't hold back… ". Around them a few whispers could be heard "Hokage's son… Traitor teammate… Disgrace... " however luckily for the speakers they were too silent for Naruto to hear.

Naruto sat and nursed his nose for a bit when suddenly Sakura reached out her hand, and said "Come on, get up", Naruto took her hand and heaved himself up. They began walking side by side, towards Sakura's home.

"What have you done today?" Naruto asked "Oh you know, the usual, teaching the kids at the academy and helping out at my parents shop, and you?" Sakura replied. Naruto put his hands behind his head "I was out of the village on a mission". as Naruto said that he saw a frown begin to form on her face and he hastily added "Nothing dangerous mind you, just a C-rank delivery!". At that Sakura's frown quickly brightened up into a smile and she said "Ah good to hear, you know how I worry… Ever since Sas…."

Naruto hastily interrupted her "I know I know I won't let anything happen to me, I will be here for you always! You can rely on that!" they walked the rest of the way in a comfortable silence, both of their minds occupied by thoughts of their estranged teammate.

* * *

Lately the Haruno residence had started to feel like a second home to Naruto so when they got in he quietly said "I'm home", Sakura looked at him and shook her head with a bemused smile. "It's stuff like this that makes my father behave the way he does you know…"

As if he had heard them talking about him Kizashi poked his head out through a nearby doorway "Hey! Naruto, have you finally come to take Sakura as your bride?" He said. Naruto began blushing widely and quietly stammered "Aahh.. Umm.. Eeh… I'unno.." Naruto looked at his feet and started to squirm, while Sakura silently started counting down from ten in her mind " _10… 9… 8…_ ". But before mount Sakura could erupt in a shower of righteous rage, Mebuki interjected "Oh ignore him, he's just being silly. You must be thirsty being outside in this warm weather, let me get you something cold to drink."

Having greeted Sakura's family they retired to her room, where Sakura managed to rope Naruto into helping her with some lesson plans for the class she was assigned to teach at the academy "So.. Naruto, your sister recently graduated" Sakura said.

Naruto looked up from the worksheets he was putting together "Yeah, she got Kakashi as her Jounin teacher" "Oh, I didn't know he would be willing to pick up a team so soon after…" Sakura looked around awkwardly "After Sasuke's defection" Naruto finished for her, he sighed "Kakashi, he really can't say no to my dad." "Your dad taught him right?" Naruto nodded as an answer to Sakura's question.

"Anyways back to your sister, Is everything alright between you two? She hasn't really spoken about you in class, I remember as kids you were pretty much everything she talked about" Sakura asked, Naruto shrugged "We've been drifting apart lately… It's been kinda weird, I don't really understand it" Sensing that Naruto rather not talk about it Sakura continued her work in silence.

* * *

After finishing up a quick meal with Sakura's family as payment for the favor of helping with the lesson plan. Naruto returned home as the sun was about to set, and as he entered through the front door he said "I'm home" hastily taking off his shoes and heading for the stair he noted that his sister was on the way down, and just as they were about to pass each other by she slipped on something, Naruto quickly reached out with his arm to try and grab her but his attempt to stabilize them was futile and after a short fall they ended up in a pile of entangled limbs at the bottom of the stairs.

Flustered Hikari quickly extricated herself and mumbled "Klutz-ninja..." as she walked away. Unbeknownst to both of them they weren't the only victims of the fall, as a certain infamous orange book had also fallen out of Hikari's bag and it had found a resting place underneath a nearby bureau…


	2. Mission outside the village!

**AN: I'm fairly novice writer so any comments/criticisms are very welcome.**

* * *

Naruto woke up early the next morning, feeling refreshed and ready for his mission (a search and rescue mission with Inuzuka Kiba and Hyuuga Hinata). As he made his way downstairs and into the hallway, he began searching for his shoes that he had hastily removed the day before. He found one of them near instantly but the other one was nowhere to be found, he finally found it underneath a bureau. As he was retrieving his shoe he also spotted an object with the most tantalizing of orange colors, nearly the same as the jacket he had received from Jiraiya shortly after his promotion to chunin.

He picked it up and saw that it was a book " _Hmm what's a book doing down here?_ " He thought. His interest piqued and he decided to check it out. " _Oh! It's written by Jiraiya, I really liked his book "The tale of the utterly gutsy ninja" I should maybe give it a read through_ " he thought as he noticed the author's name on the front of the book. Lazily flipping through it he caught sight of some drawings " _Nice! This book has pictures!_ _Maybe I can figure out what the book is about by looking at them, wouldn't want to waste time reading if the book isn't interesting_ ".

The pictures were very confusing to poor innocent Naruto (him having lived a rather sheltered family life as a kid) " _Why is that man removing his clothes?_ _Oh no! That lady is about to bite that man… He liked it? Wha-what is going on?!"_ looking at the pictures had made Naruto really flustered and his face was colored more akin to his mother's or sister's hair than his normal healthy looking tan. He slowly brought the book closer and closer to his face to get a better look, although it was very confusing and embarrassing it was also very intriguing…

Suddenly the front door opened, Startled Naruto jumped and waved his arms about not knowing what to do, he looked up and saw his mother in the doorway so he hastily stashed the book in his chunin vest. "Oh hi mom you spooked me, didn't notice you were at the door" he said as he scratched the back of his head. Kushina looked at him with a questioning stare, she thought his behavior was pretty out of the ordinary "What's up honey, anything wrong?" she asked him with a kind voice.

Naruto found himself unable to look her in the eyes and instead looked all over the room "Oh nothing nothing… Just uh... Getting ready for today's mission…" he responded. "Oh well, you know you can tell mommy anything right?" Kushina said when suddenly she got a sinister smile on her face "Also remember, mommy loves you always and forever!" she said and threw a kiss as Naruto quickly slipped past her outside "Bye mom!" Naruto said, now even more embarrassed.

* * *

He met up with Kiba and Hinata at the village gates and after reporting to the guards they set off towards their objective, Tanagura a small village a few hours away. They had been contracted through the village by a merchant named Tanimoto Yosuke to search for a caravan of goods that hadn't arrived at its destination on time.

The team selection had been easy, both Kiba and Hinata have excellent sensory capabilities (Kiba with his enhanced senses and his ninja dog partner and Hinata with her byakugan) and Naruto with his Kage bunshin supplemented them extremely well as a communications officer, allowing them to split up and effectively double their search area. Hinata and Kiba who used to be on a genin team together, quickly fell into conversation about what had recently been going on in their lives normally Naruto would have been in the middle of it (him being a very outgoing person) but this day he had that book on his mind and he only spoke when spoken too.

They arrived at Tanagura a few hours after noon and met their contact at the agreed upon tea house. the merchant Tanimoto was a heavyset man with a long mustache going down to his chin, with brown hair that had started to grey. As they entered the teahouse he saw their headbands and gave a huge smile "Hey! You must be the ninja I hired" He said then walked up and hugged them one by one, not really used to this kind of familiar greeting from strangers it put the team a bit off.

"Are you Tanimoto-san?" Kiba asked. the heavyset man nodded and said "please call me Yosuke-san, a merchant thinks of everyone as their friend… until they try to cheat him that is!" He laughed and motioned for them to take a seat.

As the team made themselves comfortable Yosuke ordered tea for them all. "Umm Yosuke-san, perhaps it is time we get down to business" Hinata asked as their tea arrived. "Ah yes yes… As you know a caravan never showed up here in town" he called for a waiter and ordered some snack cakes "Anyone wants anything?" He asked, Kiba and Hinata politely turned down his offer and Naruto stared blankly into the distance.

As the waiter left again Yosuke said "Well back to business, normally this would be a case for the local authorities, they do most of the search and rescue around here. But lately there has been reports of suspicious people moving about after dark" His demeanor grew grim "I'm not often the first one to suspect foul play, but considering the recent developments and these strange men I thought it would be safest to get some outside help this time".

"Yosuke-san what are the specifics of the mission, do you want us to retrieve the goods or just locate them?" Hinata asked as she put down the cup of tea she had been drinking from. Yosuke looked intensely into Hinata's eyes "I want you to located and secure the goods, apprehend anyone that tries to hinder you" Hinata looked away, not really feeling comfortable with that level of eye contact with a stranger and said "very well after we have secured the goods we will signal you using a rocket flare, have you coordinated with the local authorities?"

Yosuke nodded "Yes, they are well aware of this mission and are ready to act at a moment's notice, but do take into consideration that they have no combat capabilities to speak of, so in case you run into more resistance than anticipated they cannot be of much assistance" Hinata looked at Kiba and Naruto and smiled "That won't be a problem at all, the prior threat assessment is well within our capabilities".

* * *

After finishing their tea and once again being hugged awkwardly by Yosuke they set out to search for the missing caravan, they quickly found the bodies of the men that had been traveling with it but the caravan was nowhere in sight. They decided to split up, Naruto created a handful of clones using his kage bunshin technique, and sent one each with Kiba and Hinata (putting the clones under their command).

If either of them found anything the clones would dispel and instantly transfer the information to Naruto who would then relay it to the other team member. The remaining clones set out to search on their own while Naruto wanted to try and stay roughly halfway between Hinata and Kiba, to be able to rapidly respond in case either of them ran into trouble.

The terrain around the main road to Tanagura were mostly dense woodlands on ridges along a series of thin grassland valleys stretching out from the road. From the air it almost looked like a unfathomably huge beast had taken a swipe at the earth with its equally huge claws. Kiba began following the main road trying to sniff out traces of the caravan or any large parties of men, while Hinata started to head down one of the valleys.

Finally being left alone with his thoughts Naruto quickly got to thinking, " _Hmm, that book… it sure is something_ " he took the book out of his vest and looked at it "Icha icha: adventures at the ninja hot springs" he read aloud to himself. Once more he tried to read it but he quickly had to put it away or he would have caused himself to get a nosebleed. " _I wonder who it belongs too"_ he suddenly thought " _I can't really think of anyone in our family who could have something like this… A dirty book!_ "

He quickly made a mental list of whom it could belong to, at the top of the list he put himself (being a male teen it wouldn't have been unheard of to own some kind of less than savory literature). As the second one on the list he put his father, whom had been Jiraiya's student and maybe something had rubbed off on him from Jiraiya, but then again he himself had also been Jiraiya's student for about two years, even more evidence that the owner of the book could be Naruto himself.

At the third place and quite a bit away from the first two spots was his mother, Kushina had always displayed something of a distaste for Jiraiya for as long as Naruto could remember. Having asked his father about it, the only reply he got was that there had been some kind of incident, not long after Naruto's birth at the hot springs involving Jiraiya and Kushina. He wasn't sure what had happened really.

At the last place he put his little sister, (even though she was at the age where it was common to become curious about the human body, romantic relations and such) all she had ever displayed an interest in lately was to become the best ninja ever. Having blazed through the Academy with perfect grades in everything and even exposing a mole on the teaching staff she was incredibly dedicated to her ninja career.

He was quickly able to eliminate himself, that is unless he had that thing he had heard Sakura talk about once, multiplying personal disorder (or something like that) he was fairly certain he would have remembered getting a book such as this. Of the other three he was feeling pretty confident that his father was the owner but he would need some way to confirm his suspicion.

* * *

Suddenly the clone he had sent with Kiba dispelled and the information it contained filled his mind, he rapidly dispelled all other clones, and when Hinata noticed the clone that was with her dispelling she knew it was time to regroup.

Kiba had been following the main road until he caught scent of a rather large party of people , he and Akamaru had been following the trail for a while, the scent continuously growing stronger, when suddenly they heard voices. Kiba quickly signaled Akamaru to take cover and they started sneaking towards the voices, Naruto's clone following closely.

They happened upon the wreck of the caravan before they spotted the people that had been speaking. it was located in a rather large flat clearing atop one of the ridges. Taking stock of the situation Kiba spotted six people while Akamaru smelled two more, they quickly withdrew and signaled for Naruto's clone to dispel.

They regrouped near the edge of the woodlands Kiba brining them up on the intel he had gathered while Hinata and Naruto had been en route. There were eight armed individuals, two that were most likely rouge ninjas and the rest looked to be hired thugs armed with various kinds of sharp implements. The two ninjas (one man and one woman) were in their early to mid twenties, so they were most likely at a chunin level.

The woman was armed with two knives and on her belt she had an assortment of pouches, no doubt filled with a multitude of throwing weapons she also wore goggles and a mask. The man however had no noticeable weapons or discerning features "Looks like that guy is either a ninjutsu or unarmed combat specialist" Kiba said pointing at the man, Hinata activated her Byakugan "His tenketsu are very well developed around his chest, not so much on his limbs" she deactivated her byakugan "he's most likely a ninjutsu specialist, I'll get up close and deal with him" She said with a confident smile.

Kiba looked at Naruto and said "Wanna take out the lady or the small fry?" Naruto looked out over the clearing and replied "I'll deal with the small fry, you take out the woman". Kiba got a small frown and said "You sure? In the past you would been rearing to go at any challenge" Naruto looked back at Kiba and gave light chuckle "Yeah I'm sure… No need to take unnecessary risks" Kiba scoffed "Yeah… Right… Go on my signal". Naruto and Hinata both nodded, Kiba signaled for Akamaru to circle the clearing while Naruto made six clones, telling two of them to stick close to Kiba and Hinata respectively. "Go!" Kiba shouted and the team rushed at their foes.

* * *

Their attack surprised the enemies and they stumbled about in their efforts to get at their weapons. The male ninja recovered the quickest which was lucky for him since Hinata was almost upon him when he suddenly drew in a deep breath and focused a hand sign in front of his chest, suddenly breathing out a stream of fire towards the charging Hinata.

Hinata swiftly channeled chakra into her feet and grabbed onto the ground, while she was now immobile her momentum still carried her forward so she swiftly released the ground and tucked into a roll, the stream of fire passed over her harmlessly. Having lost most of her momentum during the roll she kicked off the ground and jumped, landing upright on the ground and as she looked ahead she failed to spot her foe.

She quickly activated her Byakugan and spotted another stream of fire coming at her. She was no longer carrying an excess of momentum, so the stream was easily dodged as she ducked to the side. With her near 360 degrees of sight she easily caught sight of her foe a good distance away from her.

He was preparing a third blast of fire when suddenly the fire breathing man stopped gathering chakra in his lungs and ducked, a barrage of shuriken passing by harmlessly above him. He turned towards the source of the barrage and spotted the Naruto clone that had thrown it.

Hinata quickly decided to try and take advantage of the distraction and once more charged at her foe, this time throwing a kunai at the enemy as she broke into a run. Deciding that the kunai was the lesser of the two dangers the man shifted slightly taking a glancing blow to his left arm from the throw, meanwhile he was gathering chakra in his lungs and this time instead of breathing it out in a continuously stream he did a quick cough expelling a cloud of fire that spread rapidly.

There was no room to do a roll underneath this attack so Hinata launched herself into a spin, releasing chakra through all her tenketsu as she spun, using it the speed up and at the same time projecting it like a shield. Her so called hakushu kaiten an extremely efficient defensive move used by the main family of the Hyuuga clan let her pass through the fire without taking any damage.

Not expecting her to make it through the cloud of fire unharmed the fire breather was caught completely by surprise as Hinata regained her feet and quickly closed the last distance between them. A series of precise blows hindered his ability to channel chakra towards his lung and being unable to attack he tried to pull back, but Hinata gave him no quarter and pushed her advantage delivering a quick blow to a pressure point on the neck, temporarily blocking blood flow to the brain. As the man felt his consciousness fade his last sight was of Hinata smiling at him and whispering "Sorry".

* * *

At the start of the battle Naruto sent his available clones to occupy the thugs as his main body stayed back, beginning to draw a large area seal designed to send a weak jolt of electricity through anyone caught in it, temporarily paralyzing them.

To perform the seal he had to mark five spots in a pentagon around the intended targets. His clones being pure chakra constructs were easily disrupted from cutting blows so they had to take a defensive stance against the thugs wielding various kinds of blades. His clones alternated between a defensive fighting style centered around dodging and verbal taunts to keep the thugs attentions on them and away from the main body.

As Naruto got to the first location he had selected for his seal he slapped down a seal tag and channeled some chakra into it to make it stick, he hastily withdrew a brush and ink set and drew the seal required. " _one down, four more to go"_ he thought as a rushed to the next spot keeping an eye on the general mêlée between the thugs and his clones making sure he was not noticed.

Repeating the process at the four spots he looked up to make sure both Hinata and Kiba was outside of the seal and confirming that it was so he activated the seal. A crackling sound was heard and, shouts and gasps filled the clearing as small bolts of electricity traveled between the five tags Naruto had placed quickly spreading to anyone caught in the seal, Naruto's clones dispersing into bursts of smoke while the thugs fell down unable to move their bodies.

* * *

As Kiba closed in with the knife wielding woman he found his mind strangely caught up in Naruto's recent changes, (or not so recent changes as they were about two years old but Naruto having spent most of that time away from the village with Jiraiya, made them feel new to him). " _Ever since Sasuke left,_ _Naruto has become such a coward, he barely dares to leave the village on missions anymore, it was such a pain to get him to come on this one even."_

He was quickly brought out of his thoughts by an approaching blade, bringing up one of his Kunai to block with he quickly refocused on the fight. He began trading blows with woman having no trouble blocking her weak but fast blows, however likewise his slow but heavy blows were easily dodge by the nimble woman something had to change or they would be stuck trading blows for quite a while before one of them lost out in the stamina game.

The first opportunity for Kiba to take advantage of came from the clone Naruto had sent to support him, as it rushed the woman from behind Rasengan in hand, sadly the whirling sound of the chakra attack gave him away and the woman dodged at the last moment, Naruto's clone stumbled as his blow met nothing but air and he fell forward.

As the Rasengan collided with the ground it kicked up a cloud of dust blocking the sight for the combatants. Normally this would be an equal disadvantage for the fighters, but Kiba had an ace up his sleeve the ninjas of the Inazuka clan had bonded closely with their ninja dog partners and through the years had developed sensory abilities that almost matched those of the dogs.

Using his enhanced sense of smell he was able to locate the woman and close with her inside the dust cloud. He could hear her breathing, his sensitive hearing allowing him to realize she was facing away from him so he unleashed a heavy blow at the back of her head, hoping to knock her out.

The woman though was an experienced close combat fighter and had taken a blow or two to the head before and as her vision darkened and her ears filled with a ringing noise she was barely able to stay on her feet.

Still reeling from the blow she dropped one of her knives and opened one of the pouches on her belt, reaching inside and grabbing glass vial filled with a greyish liquid. Guickly throwing it on the ground and from it erupted a cloud of dense white smoke, this one with a very overpowering smell and Kiba with his enhanced sense of smell found himself having trouble breathing.

The clone of Naruto had backed away after his first Rasengan attacked failed and it could smell the stink from the white cloud and even for him it was beginning to bring tears to his eyes. Quickly realizing what a hell it must be for Kiba he expelled the last of his chakra in a huge burst of wind, dispersing as much of the smoke as possible and having no more chakra the clone burst.

As Kiba was stumbling around eyes full of tears and starting to feel lightheaded from the lack of air when he suddenly felt a huge breeze going over him, carrying the stinking smoke with it. Finally able to fill his lungs with fresh air he wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his jacket and quickly looked around for the woman. When he had been gasping for air in the smoke the woman had retrieved the knife she had dropped and was once more wielding a knife in each hand.

They quickly closed the distance between them and begun trading blows again Still evenly matched, though this time they were both a bit stunned from the earlier attacks and their blows were a bit slower.

Noticing that they had gotten pretty close to the edge of the clearing where they had launched their attack from and after repelling a particularly vicious overhead stab Kiba maneuvered so that the woman had her back facing the edge of the clearing and gave a quick whistle.

Though the whistle was at a frequency normally not audible to humans it was perfectly audible to Akamaru who had been circling through the woods waiting for the signal to strike. Akamaru swiftly and silently ran out of the woods towards the woman, her back still facing him.

Seeing that Akamaru was quickly closing the distance Kiba went on a all out offensive, launching a series of quick blows to keep the woman he was fighting occupied as he struck his last blow he stumbled and the woman seeing this smiled thinking that something finally had broken the deadlock that their fight had been in, but before she could capitalize on Kiba's stumble she felt something take a firm grip around her ankle and pull. She fell down face first and as she twisted trying to get clear of whatever held her ankle she could feel it begin to cut into her skin.

When Kiba had stumbled on his last blow it had actually been a feint to give Akamaru the opportunity to take the woman down, so he quickly recovered from his stumble and got on top of the woman squirming on the ground and with a precise blow to the side of the head he knocked her out.

* * *

The three fights ended at about the same time and the team began tying up the knocked out foes Hinata and Kiba using rope while Naruto used chains constructed from his chakra. With the bandits secured Hinata took out a storage scroll and unsealed it, revealing a small bamboo mortar with one flat end and one tapered.

She kneeled down and placed the tube with the flat end firmly against the ground and put her right hand atop a small tag on the side of the tube and channeled some chakra into it, igniting the fuse, she quickly took a few steps back as a loud thump was heard and the tube launched a small rocket into the air and as it reached the zenith of its trajectory it detached a small parachute flare that started to slowly glide in the sky.

Hinata turned from the tube towards Naruto and Kiba and said "Alright, I have signaled the authorities that we have found the caravan." Naruto who had been retrieving the used tags from his area seal looked up at her and smiled. Their job essentially over they sat down, straight on the ground, exhausted from the long search and the fight Naruto started handing out bottles of water and some chocolate bars that he had kept in a storage scroll.

It had been a few hours since their last meal at the teahouse and fighting was hungry business so they all were ravenous and the small snack was swiftly finished. As they sat in silence Kiba once again found himself thinking about the changes that Naruto had gone through after Sasuke's defection.

Kiba was a rather direct person so he decided to just ask Naruto about it, he cleared his throat and said "Hey Naruto" Naruto looked up from the pile of dirt he had been building in his boredom and replied "Yeah?" Kiba shifted a bit under Naruto's gaze "Is everything alright with you man?" he looked down at his feet and mumbled "you've been much more cautious some have even begun calling you cowardly, ever since you returned from your trip with Jiraiya-sama".

Naruto gave off a huge sigh and began piling more dirt on his pile. After a prolonged silence he said "Yeah… You know… The mission to retrieve Sasuke was something of an eye opener" as he spoke Hinata had come and sat down next to him "it was hard on us as a team but especially for Sakura, first Sasuke leaving, then me getting a critical injury trying to get him back" he kicked the pile of dust he had been building. "She blamed herself and I blamed myself… We were in a messy state of mind which is part of why I went with Jiraiya in the first place".

He looked up at the sky, Hinata and Kiba listening raptly to their friend's heartfelt confession. "I was told that the injury I got when Sasuke hit me, probably would have been fatal if not for my Uzumaki resilience. Learning how close I had been to death really made me appreciate being alive" he chuckled grimly "before it happened I never even considered that I could be injured during my missions, but now… Having experienced injury first hand and seeing how devastating it can be, not only to me personally but also those near me, really gave me a new perspective" he stood up "So I decided to take it a bit easier, not go looking for fights." He swiftly added to clarify "Don't get me wrong, I won't back down if it is necessary". Kiba and Hinata looked at him with sad eyes, unsure how to show their support to their friend.

As he had been speaking he had remembered when Sakura first visited him in the hospital but he decided not to mention it to the others, being a very personal memory.

* * *

 _Naruto woke with a start shouting "SASKUE!" he tried to sit up, but a sharp pain in his chest forced him down and knocked the breath out of him. He looked around seeing that he was in a hospital room. Looking down on his chest he saw that it was covered in bandages and the memories of the last fight returned to him._

 _Working slowly he was able to get into a seated position and noticed that next to his bed there was a night stand, on top of it was a large vase overflowing with flowers and next to it there was many greeting cards, he picked one up and read it."Get well soon Naruto!" it said, he looked at the signature and didn´t recognize it. "Huh, it must be from one of dads sycophants" He thought with a grimace._

 _Tossing the card in the nearby trashcan he picked up another, this one was from one of his classmates during his time at the ninja academy so he put it back down next to the flower deciding he was going to sort through all the cards._

 _His mind was fully occupied with the task and he missed the door opening and the first notice he had that he wasn't alone was when Sakura gently put her arms around him carefully avoiding to aggravate his injury and mumbled "oh Naruto, I was so worried" she sniffled "I thought I was going to lose both you and Sasuke" Naruto could feel her tears through the thin hospital gown he was wearing "It´s all my fault… I shouldn't have accepted your promise"._

 _Naruto gently hugged her back and said "Sakura, you and Sasuke are my dearest friends" he could feel her body shake as she cried "even if I hadn't made that promise I would have gone after him" he smiled._

 _As she saw his gentle smile Sakura stopped crying and said with a weak voice "I'm not sure you realize how grave the situation was for you… The doctors they did everything they could… And it almost wasn't enough" Naruto's eyes widened at the revelation but Sakura had more to say "You've been in a medically induced coma for almost two weeks now" Sakura wiped her eyes and cleared her throat._

 _Naruto had trouble grasping the situation in his mind "two weeks?" he asked. Sakura nodded, Naruto was baffled "What happened with Sasuke?" As she heard Naruto's question Sakura once again started crying after a few hiccups and some crying she finally chocked out "he's gone Naruto!" Sakura got a desperate look in her eyes and she clung to Naruto like he was her last lifeline._

 _Through sobs she managed to squeeze out "Naruto… I don't want to lose you too! Promise me you won't leave me! Please!" Naruto held her gently and smiled as he said "Don't worry! Sakura we might not always be together, but I WILL always return to you and I will bring back Sasuke!" he held her as she cried._

* * *

About a half hour after Hinata had shot the flare they heard rustling in the woods and soon thereafter a group of men came into the clearing, among them were Yosuke. He walked up to them "I see that my fears were valid" He said as he looked at the people they had captured. He gave a slow shake on his head "it's desperate times when caravans in the heart of our country gets robbed."

He had a grim expression but soon broke into a smile "Well a job well done my friends!" he walked up to Akamaru and started scratching him behind the ears. "Yes a job well done" Hinata replied she looked at Kiba then Naruto and then back at Yosuke "if there's nothing else we should really be on our way" Yosuke looked up from the dog he was petting "No I believe we got it from here" he said.

They said their goodbyes and got some more hugs from Yosuke. They walked away from the Naruto then tossed a sealing scroll on the ground and from it a larger scroll appeared, it was large enough for a single person to stand on when rolled out and was covered in scribbled seals

"C'mon lets go" he said as he picked up the smaller scroll. "We'll go first!" Kiba shouted, quickly mounting Akamaru and directed him to stand over the scroll. Naruto did a series of hand signs. As he was doing them a black tentacles of ink started to spread from the scroll on the ground forming into a network of seals.

As Naruto released the chakra for the technique, there was a blinding flash and a thunderous clap and Kiba was gone. Naruto broke out in a sweat, the static destination long distance variation of the Hiraishin took a lot out of him, but it sure beat the few hours walk back to Konoha.

After catching his breath he went to stand over the scroll and motioned for Hinata to join him she got right next to him and once again he started the same series of seals, the inky tentacles spreading out forming the network of seals again, at the end he added a few seals to ensure the scroll followed with them and then release the technique.


	3. And the owner of the book is?

Traveling through the use of the Hiraishin was a peculiar experience, the details of how they traveled weren´t fully understood. But the sensation was well documented it took only a moment yet it felt like a few minutes, a sensation of being suspended in nothing, while everywhere around you there was a impenetrable blackness.

Then a sudden jerk and you're back in the material world, at least that's how Naruto understood it. He was not yet proficient enough to long distance teleport to a portable seals (like those his father used) instead he and Hinata showed up in a small shed in the backyard of the Uzumaki residence. The shed had a special receiver connected to the scroll Naruto carried around allowing much simpler passage between them. His mother (the resident seal master of Konoha) had set up the shed with her children in mind allowing them to return home rapidly from completed missions or difficult situations.

Kiba was there waiting for them and as Hinata and Naruto recovered from their traveling experience he spoke "Hey Naruto, since you got us home through the seal Hinata and I will take care of the paper work." Kiba looked at Hinata as he said it and she nodded in agreement. Naruto smiled at his friends' thoughtfulness "Alright thanks guys! Good work today. See ya!" he said as they left the shed.

* * *

The sun had started to set when he entered his home, after greeting his mother (who was in the kitchen having begun today's dinner) he hurried up the stairs and into his room, wanting to get out of his dirty clothes as soon as possible. Quickly shedding his jacket and the vest that signified his rank as chunin gingerly he took out the book that he had been carrying all day, setting it on his desk.

He was really curious about whom the book belonged to, though he realized he could probably not just walk up to one of his family members and ask them if it were theirs. If confronted by something like that most people would deny it out of embarrassment. Putting it away on his desk he decided to think about it after he took a refreshing shower and he grabbed a towel and went into the bathroom.

As he stood in the shower he suddenly felt a sudden excruciating pain in his abdominal region, like he had been stabbed. He fell down on his knees gasping for air. Together with that pain were also a flood of memories.

 _The fight had ended and the clone that had supported Hinata was the only one remaining, the one that had been with Kiba had popped while dispersing the smoke while the rest was caught in the paralyzing seal. He approached his main body, "Boss any new orders?" Naruto looked up at his clone "Yeah you patrol the surrounding area while we wait for the local authorities to show up" The clone did a quick salute and bounded off to start a patrol around the clearing._

 _A few hours later the clone returned to the clearing to report all clear, but all he could find were the empty remains of the caravan. Looking around in bewilderment he wondered "Eh? Where's the boss?" he scratched his head "he better not have forgotten about me and returned home!" he cursed at the skies. After waiting for a while it was clear that his suspicions were correct, the main body had forgotten about the last clone._

 _"I'll show him! I'll show him good!" The clone though with a sinister smile, slowly getting down on his knees, he pulled out a kunai. "He'll never see this coming" he said softly and chuckled. Suddenly his face grew grim and he gripped the kunai in a two handed grip, the blade pointed towards him. "HARAKIRI!" he shouted, plunging the knife into his stomach and slicing to the side, the pain was overwhelming, much worse than anything Naruto had experienced before. He barely had time for a last thought before he dispelled from the injury and pain "Ha! Worth it!"._

The pain though powerful quickly ended but Naruto found himself more disturbed by the fact that his clone, an embodiment of himself, was willing to commit suicide to get revenge for such a petty grievance. Though it wasn't the first time he had forgotten about a clone on a mission, this was by far the most extreme reaction. " _Maybe I should talk to a counselor about that? Eh whatever_ " Naruto thought as he stepped out of the shower.

After drying off he returned to his room, now wearing a pair of dark blue sweatpants and a black t-shirt with the stylized leaf emblem (that were also displayed on his hitai-ate) on his chest. He quickly shook his head to get rid of the thoughts the clone had put in his mind and directed his mind towards the puzzle of the book. " _What can I do to find out who owns the book?_ " He sat down at his desk and picked up the book, checking it for any markings that could identify the owner.

Not finding anything he put it back down " _I've had the book less than a day, maybe the owner doesn´t miss it yet."_ He began flipping through the pages when suddenly an IDEA come to him, not just a normal idea, but one that was as close to a masterstroke as he was capable. He smiled, now armed with a plan of how to expose the owner of the book, and maybe get a laugh out of it as well. He stashed the book in his bookshelf and headed downstairs.

* * *

As he entered the joint kitchen/dining room he could see his mother busy at work preparing dinner "You need any help?" he asked her. She looked up at him and smile "Yes dear, could you set the table please?". Naruto nodded and set about his business, as he worked he talked with his mother about his mission, giving a quick but clear description about what they had done, when he finished setting the table his father returned with a yellow flash, neither Kushina nor Naruto raised an eyebrow, being used to Minato using the Hiraishin to get around.

Kushina smiled and said "To think the yellow flash that used to put terror into the ninjas of Iwagakure now just uses his signature technique as a shortcut home from the office" as a greeting. Minato walked up to her and embraced her "Hey, it let me see you quicker so it was my best use of it yet!" he said with a cheeky grin.

Before they could begin kissing Naruto hastily greeted his father, having gone unnoticed by Minato as he was distracted by his wife. "Hey pops, how's it going?" Naruto said, making a small waving motion with his hand. His father let go of Kushina and said "Hey kiddo, I'm doing well, a lot of stuff going on at the office right now." He gave of a small sigh. All three of them sat down at the kitchen table and made small talk, waiting for the last member of the family to join them before starting their dinner.

As they sat at the dining table talking about this and that they heard from the entryway "I'm home" almost sung in a sweet voice, Hikari had returned. When Hikari passed by the doorway Kushina told her in a loud voice "We're in the kitchen sweetie, dinner is ready!" Hikari shouted back "I'll be right down, let me just get washed up" she said as she ascended the stairs. A few minutes later she rejoined them in the dining room.

Their meal finished they sat for a while speaking about nothing and everything when Naruto decided to put his plan into action. "Hey I really liked that "The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi" written by Jiraiya-sensei, has he written any other good books?" He said, carefully studying the expressions on his family's faces. His father didn't show any particular reaction to the mentioning of Jiraiya's books while his mother got a small scowl on her face. His sister was completely still, as if time around her had frozen and he was looking at a static image.

" _Hmm can't determine it quite yet, might need to execute step two of the plan_ " he thought when suddenly his mother spoke with a fierce voice "Naruto! Those books, they are trash worse than ninjas that have abandon their teammates!" when Kushina finished speaking, Minato chuckled awkwardly and scratched the back of his head as he said "I figured you're at that age, when stuff like that gets interesting. But remember Naruto they are just stories and doesn't reflect reality that well".

Naruto was beginning to realize that his plan had backfired, his father was about to go into a birds and the bees talk, something Naruto had already experienced when he out of the blue had asked Sakura if they should make a baby together.

His father cleared his throat "When a man loves a woman and she loves him back, they desire to be with each other… in as many ways as possible" Naruto quickly interrupted him "I already know this, Kakashi spoke to me about it" His father looked relived at having dodge that bullet "Oh good, good, very good" He said.

His mother interjected "Naruto, remember that Jiraiya's books are smut and if I catch you with one of them in our home I will be very displeased!" she was about to go into a rant when Minato gently interrupted her "Don't worry honey, I'm sure Naruto doesn't have an interest in those kinds of books and just wanted another book like " The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi"." Seemingly calmed by Minato's words Kushina let the subject drop.

* * *

Naruto lazily stretched his arms into the air and said "I'm getting kinda sleepy, but I have to replenish my supplies from the mission, anyone needs anything while I'm out?" at this his sister jumped in her chair and she got a smile, no it was more akin to a smirk as she said. "Why yes, brother dearest… If you could get me some of that extremely exclusive chocolate ice cream I like that would be nice" Naruto looked at her "But I have to go to the other side of town to get that" His sister looked at him with a puzzled look "Yes? Now go get it" she said nonchalantly.

As Naruto rose from his seat his father said "Oh son get me some kunai, I used most of mine during a display at the academy." Naruto nodded and went upstairs to grab his jacket. Unseen to Naruto his sister kept a close watch as he left, when he had exited their house she snuck up to the door and peeked through, making certain Naruto made it to the street corner before she turned around, dashed up the stairs and entered Naruto's room. " _stupid stupid stupid, how could I misplace the book_ " she thought "He must have the book somewhere around here" She mumbled through gritted teeth as she hastily started searching through Naruto's room.

In a corner of the bookshelf she spotted the vibrant orange of her book and she gingerly reached out for it. Picking it up and hugging it to her chest she started to celebrate when suddenly the book exploded in a cloud of smoke turning into a shouting Naruto "Ha got you now!". As he looked at the one that had taken the book he was flabbergasted, "Y-Y-You?" he stuttered out. Never in his wildest speculation had he suspected the book belonged to her.

His sister panicked and decided the best way to get out of this situation was to say nothing at all. Realizing she was still hugging the book now turned Naruto she quickly tried to let go, but the added weight had caused her to fall down backwards. And Naruto was now towering over her, quickly realizing the position they were in Naruto jumped off her and as she got back up he said "What are you doing in my room?" wanting to get a confession out of her to confirm his findings.

She looked at him with steely eyes and answered "Hn, that's none of your business." She crossed her arms in front of her signaling that was the end of the conversation but Naruto pressed the issue "it's my room, and you're going through my stuff, I think it is kind of my business" she got a petulant look on her face "No it's not." "Yes it is" Naruto answered and once more he got the reply "No it's not.".

Barely being able to stop himself from saying yes it is, once more, he instead took out the book from its hiding spot, showing it to his sister. Who looked at it with hungry eyes. "Were you perhaps looking for this?" He said with a smug expression. His sister looked at the book, then at his face and said "No." Naruto huffed now certain from her reactions that she was the owner of the book, but seemingly unable to get her to confess. He had had his laugh so he said "Well if you're not looking for this book, can you get rid of it for me?" As she heard what he had said Hikari got a huge smile gingerly accepting the book Naruto was thrusting at her. This time when she hugged to book to her chest and celebrated nothing happened.

Naruto looked at his sister as she received the book, thinking to himself " _I've never seen Hikari smile like that before_ " a warm feeling filling him " _I want her to always have that smile_ ". With this new found desire he spoke to his sister, "You know, if you ever need anything just ask." She looked up from the book at his face and blushed. Not knowing what to say she replied "Hn, who would want to relay on a bum brother like you". Her words were harsh, but the huge smile she had and the gentle look in her eyes really took the sting out of them.

Hikari now with her book, walked out the room and in an barely audible voice whispered "Thank you." As she passed Naruto.


	4. A family quarrel!

It had been a rather busy day for Sakura at the ninja academy, not long before the first class of the day started, she had learned that one of the other teachers was unable to come in today. So she had been forced to look for a substitute, unfortunately the regular replacement was unavailable this day so she had called in a favor with Naruto to get him to teach the class.

While Naruto wasn´t the strongest at the theoretical parts of the ninja profession, nobody could doubt his practical applications, so they had quickly changed today's lesson plan into a more practical version to accommodate this.

Sakura had let her kids off on recess a bit early wanting to go over and check up how Naruto was doing, she soon found herself outside the classroom door and peeked through. Naruto was talking about a fight he had been in a few years back, while gesticulating wildly. The children were completely captivated, gleefully lapping up every word he said. Soon the description of his fight was over and Naruto took the opportunity to ask a few questions, such as why he did what he did and so forth.

A bit into the Q and A session the bell run and Naruto dismissed the class, Sakura stood back as a horde of children ran out of the class room on their way to recess. As the children passed Sakura entered the classroom, where Naruto was talking with girl that had stayed behind. He squatted to be at eye level with the girl as he spoke with her.

As Sakura got closer she could hear their conversation. "Naruto-sensei! There's something I must tell you!" girl said, with a fierce blush. Naruto looked her in the eyes, his gaze causing her to squirm a bit "Umm you see… You're pretty cool you know…" she continued and Naruto smiled at her praise. Gathering the last of her courage the bold girl took a step closer towards Naruto and put her hand on his shoulder.

"Naruto-sensei! I like you! Please go out with me!" she gave a small bow and looked at him with hopeful eyes. Sakura smiled at this and thought " _A little girl with a crush on her teacher, so cute!_ ".

Naruto took the girls hand in his and gently put it between them, he gave a soft smile and said "You're a bit young, but come back in a few years ok? I'll be waiting for you!" he said with a grin, winking at the girl and giving her a thumbs up. The girl nodded with a smile and ran out of the room barley sparing a glance for Sakura as she passed her by.

Naruto gave a sigh and stretched as he stood back up, Sakura walked up to him and said "You handled that pretty well." Naruto looked at her "Yeah… I can't wait, that girl is going to become a fine young woman!" he said with a lecherous grin. When Naruto's class returned from recess, he was sporting a new bump on his head.

* * *

The rest of the classes passed by without any incident worth mentioning and as the school day ended Naruto set of for home, only being a temporary substitute he didn't have to deal with the normal after hours duties of a teacher.

As Naruto passed through the front door he got a feeling that something wasn't right. The atmosphere he felt was very strange, both hot in rage yet cold in contempt. He quickly decided to try and ascertain the cause of this disturbance and started look around the house for the source.

Naruto was quickly able to complete his search because as he entered the living room he could see what had caused the disturbance. It took him a few moments to interpret the signals his eyes were sending to his brain. His mother (with hair waving about like the tentacles of an enraged octopus) was towering over his sister and had her fixed with a death stare. "So young lady, you dropped this book when we met, and you're still going to tell me it isn't yours?" Kushina said. As she was talking she was waving around the orange book Naruto had found.

Hikari squirmed a bit under Kushina's glare before she answered "No it's not mine". Kushina gave off an exasperated groan when suddenly she got a triumphant look in her eyes and said "So if it isn't yours, why did you have it?" thinking she had Hikari on a technicality and being judge, jury and executioner at the same time she begun planning what kind of punishment to dole out, when her premature celebration was interrupted.

Hikari was not used to lying, so when her mother had confronted her about the book she had dropped she had been caught flabbergasted and quickly responded with the only denial that came to her, which had been that it wasn't hers. Now that she had had some time to think about it she had come up with a fool proof defense.

"I'm keeping it for someone else." Hikari said and caught her mother by complete surprise. "Who?" Kushina responded, Hikari looked down at the floor and shook her head, not wanting to create an unintended scapegoat. "I don't believe you" Kushina finally said, growing tired of her daughter's stonewalling.

As Naruto overheard their conversation he found himself thinking " _She dropped the book again? She must be some kind of secret klutz or something_ ". Brotherly love (recently rekindled) mixed with stupidity quickly led him to what action he must take, so he gathered his courage and said "It's mine".

Both Hikari and Kushina looked at the doorway with shocked expressions, neither of them expecting Naruto to claim the item as his own. "So when you were talking about Jiraiya's books at dinner a few days ago you really were talking about his smut!" Kushina said, marching up to and standing next to Naruto, brandishing the book as if it were a weapon.

He hadn't really thought it through when he jumped in to try and save his sister so he simply responded with "Yes I uh… Lied". Hearing this made Kushina grow even angrier, if there was only one thing she could not tolerate it would be lying. "You would lie to your own mother ?" She snarled at him.

Kushina had always been a bit hotheaded and Uzushiogakure's destruction had left her without close relatives so she treasured her family and their bonds above all else. So the fact that Naruto would lie to another family member only served to fuel her anger even more.

* * *

As they were talking Kushina was unconsciously controlling her hair with chakra and it began to ensnare Naruto finally lifting him up and bring him closer to her. Kushina trembled with anger as she was reminded of why she disliked Jiraiya's books so much.

 _"Ah, it sure is nice to take a girls night out" Kushina moaned as she sunk down in the warm water of the hot spring bath. "I concur wholeheartedly" Uchiha Mikoto replied with a smile. "Kids really keep you busy huh?" Kushina asked the more experienced mother. Mikoto just replied with a small laugh and as she was about to speak there was a loud thud right next to them._

 _From that thud tumbled a mess of red and white and as it came to a stop the women were able to identify it as Jiraiya of the three legendary ninjas. He quickly stood up and looked around, when he noticed the women that were now standing and looking at him completely naked. "Haha! Good show!" He merrily exclaimed as he winked at them._

"Hello?" Naruto said to his mother without getting any response. "Uuh mom… Are you umm… Going to hold me here forever?" The sentence uttered by Naruto quickly drew her out of her reminiscing. "Why did your sister have your book Naruto?" his mother replied at last.

"Erm you know Hikari, she can't say no to anything her family asks of her… So after I heard you disliked these books I asked her to keep it for me, to try and hide the book from you. I never expected her to lose the book much less so in front of you." Naruto was rambling, speaking with the typical excess of details that is so common when lying. However his mother was too angry to notice.

She smacked him on the head with the book and then released him from her hair. "That'll teach you to take advantage of your sisters kindness" she said. But she was not completely satisfied with his punishment yet so she said "Go to your room and stay there, no dinner for you!" she got a smug smile on her face since today was ramen day, Naruto's most favorite day.

* * *

Naruto was certain he had been sitting in his room for years, smelling the delicious scent of the ramen coming from downstairs without being able to get some himself really messed with his perception of time. As the years had begun to turn into ages he heard a soft knock on the door.

When he opened the door he saw that it was his sister that had knocked. "What do you what?" he said in a clipped voice, his temper had grown short during the incessant torment brought about by the lack of ramen and hunger. At his words Hikari shuffled her feet and lifted a small bowl of ramen at him. "I snuck this past mother, please take it" at the sight of his favorite food the foul mood Naruto had been nursing instantly dispelled.

He gingerly took the bowl from her, careful not to spill even a single drop of the delicious broth. As he set about eating his food Hikari spoke "Thank you… For covering for me, it was really kind of you". Naruto was too busy eating to reply with words but he nodded when she finished speaking. Having eaten the last of the noodles Naruto quickly drained the bowl of broth setting it down with a pleasured moan.

"Don't worry about it, if you need anything never hesitate to come to me about it" he said. Hikari smiled as he spoke and she quickly closed the distance and gave Naruto a hug. "I will" she whispered softly.


	5. A private message!

A few days had passed since Kushina had found Hikari's book and Naruto claiming ownership of it, at first his mother had been rather chilly towards him, but she quickly realized she might have overreacted a bit and she made up with him. On this particular day Naruto was lazing about in the living room while his mother was doing some chores around the house.

Naruto was bored sitting around in the living room "Huh" he sighed and muttered "what to do?" just as he said it his mother passed him by and heard him. "Since you have nothing else to do, why don't you get out of the house for a while?" She asked with a smile. Naruto perked up at her suggestion, maybe he could figure out something to do while he took a walk around town? He smiled back at his mother and gave her a nod in affirmation to her suggestion.

Seeing this Kushina hurriedly grabbed a piece of paper and a pen. "Take this note to your father when you're out" she said as she scribbled a message on the note and folded it before handing it over to Naruto. Just as he was exiting through the door his mother added with a shout "Don't read it!" the sentence was over just as Naruto closed the door. "I hope he heard that last message" Kushina thought with a small shake of the head.

* * *

The sun was shining in the sky and the note from his mother was in one of his pockets as Naruto left home with a spring in his step. " _I should relax for a bit in the nearby park before I stop by dad._ " He thought as he turned his feet towards his newly acquired goal and set off at a slow pace. As he was walking towards the park he could hear the hustle and bustle of everyday life in Konoha. " _It makes me proud to be a ninja of Konoha when I see that people here are able to enjoy a peaceful daily life_ " he thought and smiled softly.

The short distance to the park was quickly covered even at his leisurely pace as he was enjoying the sights and sounds around him, children playing after school, housewives and househusbands doing their chores, workers carrying loads of goods into stores, newly graduated genin's doing chores… Erm that is, Rank D assignments. When he arrived at the park he spotted his sister and her team running around trying to catch a brown blur, he caught the occasional glimpse of the brown blur and could identify it as a brown cat with a red ribbon on one of its ears.

He sat down on a nearby park bench, wanting to observe what was most likely his little sisters first mission, it also reminded him of his own attempt at capturing Tora the cat. He shuddered as he recalled a particularly vicious mauling he had received from the cat.

* * *

 _"Sakura go left!" Naruto shouted as he raced to catch up with the speeding cat. Sakura complied and broke off from the pursuit moving in between two adjacent buildings to try and circle around and cut off their targets escape route. Despite his attempts at closing the distance the distance between them grew and as Naruto got farther and farther away he thought "It's all up to you now Sasuke!"._

 _Their plan had been refined in its simplicity, they would find the cat and then try and lure it into an ambush. They had underestimated their foe though and their first attempt had failed miserably, and Sakura had received a nasty gash on her cheek. The plan failed but they all agreed it was a solid one so they had decided to try again, this time with some more preparation._

 _They had finally located Tora the cat in a small park flanked on their left side by give large buildings regularly spaced with three paths between them, while on the right there flowed a small stream with a small bridge over it. Sasuke spoke "The bridge sees considerable pedestrian traffic flow at this hour of the day ,the feline is unlikely to choose that as an escape route" Naruto looked at him with a disgusted scowl "Would it kill ya to speak like a normal person?"_

 _Sasuke got a fierce scowl of his own and retorted viciously "I am the younger son of the current leader of the honorable and esteemed Uchiha clan, if I want to carry myself with a certain degree of decorum that is for me to decided." He scoffed "Our team would certainly profit from at least SOME attempts at civilized behavior. Some of us certainly act beneath their station"._

 _"Why you bastard!" Naruto growled and readied a punch but before they could come to blows they were interrupted by their pink haired teammate. "This is not the time to be fighting!" she yelled as she hit both of them on top of their heads. Both Naruto and Sasuke realized there was truth to her words and set aside their grievances for later._

 _"Listen, I got a plan" Sakura continued, "as Sasuke said, the cat is unlikely to use the bridge because of all the people, that leaves the pathways between the buildings and other side of the park as the only remaining escape routes" Sasuke and Naruto nodded in agreement. "So what I propose is that one of us will go ahead to the other side of the park, when in position that person should signal and the other two should give chase, one right behind the target and the other one slightly ahead and to the left, preventing the objective from turning onto the pathways between the buildings."_

 _Sakura lost some of her composure as she was speaking because both of the boys were looking at her intently (after all during their time in the academy she had been one of the few girls to join both of their fan clubs!) she quickly gathered herself and went on "When the person on the left reaches the second pathway after the target have passed it they should go that way and circle around the third building meanwhile the one that is stationed on the other side of the park should start running towards the target, and herd it into the third path." Naruto quickly interrupted her "where the member that broke off will be ready and waiting!" Sakura was a little disappointed because she had wanted to say that, but she was glad he got the plan at least._

 _Everything had gone well and after Sasuke herded the cat into the final path Sakura had captured it without any major mishaps. "So this is the cat that have been giving us all those problems? Doesn't look that tough now does it?" Naruto gloated as he held the cat by the skin of its neck. As if the cat had understood that Naruto had insulted her it growled, hissed and spat at him and suddenly it twisted in a incomprehensible manner, somehow she was able to scratch him with all four of her legs and bite him at the same time. Naruto was stunned by the savage assault and how it happened didn't register at all, and even when he asked Sakura and Sasuke about it later they had also been unable to grasp how the cat had carried out the assault._

* * *

While he had been reminiscing the past his sister and her team had chased the cat towards him, he began paying more attention as he saw that Hikari was gaining on the cat, when she was but a few meters behind the cat it suddenly sped up, as if it had just been playing with her. Hikari gave out a frustrated howl and launched herself at the cat but it was in vain, the cat got away and Hikari slid over the ground, trailing on the grass and getting mud on her clothes.

She quickly got back up on her feet and as she was dusting herself off she looked around and spotted Naruto sitting on the bench. Naruto waved as he saw that she had noticed him and he could practically feel her embarrassment in the wave she responded with.

Her teammates quickly caught up with her and looked over where she was waving, they spoke for a while then they began walking towards Naruto with Hikari in the lead. As they got close Hikari greeted him with a small smile and said "Hi, how are you today?" Naruto replied "Hello, I'm doing quite well and you?" Hikari looked over to where she had jumped towards the cat and gave a small shrug "I've been better" she gave a motion in the general direction of the two children flanking her "by the way these are my teammates, you know of Konohamaru of course" She pointed at the boy with a large blue scarf and spiky brown hair standing on her right. Naruto and Konohamaru gave each other a small wave as Hikari moved on to introduce her other teammate "and this is Hyuuga Hanabi she graduated early" the small girl to the left of Hikari looked up at Naruto and gave him a small smile.

"it's nice to meet you two! I hope you take care of my sister" Naruto said after Hikari had finished the introductions. They both chorused "Yes sir!" and before Naruto could say anything else Hikari quickly interjected "perhaps…" She looked over at her teammates who were looking at Naruto with hopeful eyes. She sighed and looked back at Naruto. She cleared her throat and said "perhaps, uh, we're currently experiencing some minor setbacks… no no no" she gave a furtive glance at her teammates hoping they had change their minds about this but their hopeful stares had not waned in the slightest.

She gave a last large sigh and spoke with a dejected voice, "We're on a mission to catch Tora the cat, but we're having trouble getting hold of it, perhaps you could help us?". Naruto was pleasantly surprised by her question, only a few weeks ago she would probably have refused to ask anything from him, even if she had been pressured by her teammates into doing it.

Naruto smiled at her and gently shook his head, " I'm flattered you asked me, but I don't think I should interfere, this is your team's mission after all" as he spoke he could see Hikari's expression shift from embarrassed to furious "Stupid brother! I give you the opportunity to help and you turn it down?" her teammates looked surprised to see her be angry at anyone, since during their time at the academy she had been the picture of the model student with a smile every day. An image Hikari had spent a lot of time and effort to maintain, but there was something about her brother that just made her furious and at this moment trying to keep up her persona was far from her mind.

After listening to a lecture about how he was shirking his duties as an elder brother and so forth from Hikari Naruto began to grow frustrated and finally he said exasperatedly "Fine! I'll do it!". Hikari was flabbergasted at his reply, not sure why she had been berating him and not really expecting anything to come from it, and she had basically been doing it to take out her frustrations on him she only managed to squeak out a small "oh… thank you…" as a reply, it was barely audible to Naruto.

With Naruto's help they managed to capture the cat without any great challenges and as they held their captured cat and was taking a moment to enjoy their success a small puff of smoke appeared in the air next to them, it was quickly replaced by the visage of the team's leader Hatake Kakashi.

He greeted them with a small smile, (something only Hikari and Naruto was able to spot, what with Kakashi wearing a mask to hide most of his face, Hikari and Naruto had both been able to learn to read him when he was over visiting their father during their childhood.)

The team looked at him with expectant eyes, their first mission, finished ahead of schedule! Kakashi returned their hopeful eyes with a sad look and gently shook his head "Mission failed…" as he uttered that short sentence the life drained from the young genins.

"Maa Kakashi sensei, don't be like that! Let 'em have it this time alright?" Naruto said. Kakashi gave him a through look over and for a tense moment nothing happened, Naruto and Kakashi looking at each other, the team of genins standing around lifelessly.

Finally after what felt like an eon to the kids Kakashi's face broke into a smile so huge that this time even Konohamaru and Hanabi was able to discern it. "Alright then! Since it is my favorite student asking I'll let it slide this time." Suddenly his voice turned harsh "But you kids! When I give you a mission like this I want you to finish It yourself, not find outside assistance. Understood?"

"Now we'd better go report this mission's success to the Hokage alright?" As Kakashi spoke Naruto was reminded about the note he had and he said "I'll tag along I have something to give dad." Kakashi looked over at him and nodded "Alright this will give us time to catch up".

* * *

The team of genin spent the walk talking among themselves, dreaming about what greatness they would accomplish as ninjas. Meanwhile Kakashi and Naruto spoke of times past and such. They quickly found themselves standing in line outside of the office of their leader, waiting to be showed in they didn't have to wait long before one of the secretaries came and motioned for them to enter the Hokage's office.

Minato was sitting at his desk putting the finishing touches on some of his paperwork, Kakashi gently cleared his throat and Minato looked up and looked them over, he gave a small expression of surprise as he took note of Naruto.

Kakashi spoke up, "Team 7 here to report a successful mission!" Konohamaru who had been holding the cat lifted it up and showed it to the hokage. "Good work!" Minato replied he looked over at Naruto "And what are you here for?" He asked with a friendly voice. "Ah yes!" Naruto exclaimed as he began checking his pockets for the note, when he found it he took it out and opened it. "Mom wanted me to deliver this message to you" he said as he began reading the note "hmm let's see " _meet me at the hideout for some grownup fun_ " is what she had written" Naruto said.

As the message of the note registered it had a profound effect on everyone except the reader in the office. Hanabi and Konohamaru were staring at the hokage so hard it was a wonder their eyes didn't fall out of their heads and Kakashi giggled a little.

meanwhile Hikari's face had taken on a shade of red that was a close match to her hair color and she quickly hid her face in her hands and sighed. Minato's blush wasn't much lesser than Hikari's and he face palmed saying gently to Naruto "Are you sure she didn't tell you not to read it?" Naruto quickly perked up "oh yeah, she did say something like that I think."

The room descended into a awkward silence until finally Minato spoke again "Well, I got somewhere I have to be, you are dismissed." As he spoke his eyes were locked at his feet, team seven turned around and began leaving the room and just as Kakashi was passing through the door he gave a last farewell to Minato "Have fun sensei!" he said.

Naruto was still standing around in the office after his father flashed away to rendezvous with Kushina not entirely certain what had caused all the awkwardness that had transpired, as he turned to leave the room he looked back down into his hand and remembered that he was still holding the note " _oh yeah, I should leave the note here_ " he thought and walked up to his father's desk.

As he was putting down the note he accidentally read the headline on a manila folder, he softly spoke as he read the sentence " **Regarding the external threat towards the current holder of the nine tailed fox. Addendum Akatsuki** " the words chilled him to his core.


End file.
